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Brooke Blurton breaks down over Voice referendum defeat: 'Devastated'
"I feel so f**king devastated."
Brooke Blurton, a proud Noongar-Yamatji woman, broke down on her podcast Not So PG when she and co-host Matty Mills, a proud Gamilaraay/Kamilaroi man, spoke about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which was met with a No vote on the weekend.
The former Bachelorette, 28, shared the impact the vote was having on the young First Nations girls she works with as a youth worker.
Brooke broke down while speaking about the Australian public, questioning what they must have thought of her when she was the first First Nations Bachelorette, given most people voted No, "You internalise it so much, because you're like, 'What is wrong with me?'"
"You know what I mean? You can't help but think, and it's not about me solely, but you can't help but think, you advocate for your mob and your community and your culture so much, and I do it so proudly, just as what you do, and people still can't see why that is, and still can't understand."
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She continued, "It just devastates me, because it makes me feel like everything I have worked for has [been completely] diminished in this country, and I feel so f**king devastated."
"I'm a First Nations person forefront, I f**king hate calling myself Australian," Brooke added. "I do not think that I identify with that, because that invitation was put to the Australian people and it was very f**king un-Australian of you to say no to us."
Brooke said that she felt as though people call First Nations people 'they' and it had become 'them against us', with the presenter sharing that it was as though "we're some f**king disease".
"I feel the weight of it, because I'm such a sensitive, emotional person, and everything that I've done since going on TV in 2018 was to show how proud I was of my culture, and in the six years, what have I been working for?" she questioned. "Just to continue to get beaten down? I have no family left, everyone in my f**king family is dying, and it's because of colonisation, it's because of mental health, I have myself, I have my brothers and I have my future nephews and nieces to come, and I feel really f**king scared for them... I'm like, 'You have no idea what's to come.'"
Matty tried to lift Brooke's spirits, telling her, "The work you have done, it's not going unnoticed. You need to know that. The impact you have on those girls that you work with and every day they get to see you and succeed and be inspired by what you're doing - that is the future."
Brooke was inconsolable, responding, "But you don't understand. I was in damage control yesterday. Like I'm sitting down with these girls who have absolutely no, you know, I feel like their voice has been stripped, to feel like they're fully diminished, have no self-esteem already as f**king teenagers and as women, as Blak women.
"And here I am being like, 'Why are you so proud to be First Nations? Why are you so proud to be Aboriginal in Australia?' And all of these girls are struggling to put words to paper. They're the ones that are lifting me up right now."
She shared that this was the first time she'd cried about the No vote, with Matty giving her a hug and telling her he loves her.
Video of the segment was shared to Instagram, with many fans flooding the comments section with support.
"Heartbreaking," one user wrote. "I’m sure it’s cold comfort but I and millions of others are standing with you, those girls and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the country, ready to do what we have to do to find justice."
SHOP:
"Listening to this broke my heart," another said. "I'm so sorry Australia failed you Brooke. I know lots of people including First Nations who voted no so sadly I think people were thinking they did the right thing by listening to those First Nations people. You are wanted. You are loved and I'm so sorry."
"Ashamed to be Australian right now… can’t bring myself to believe what just happened," a third said.
"I am so so sorry Australia failed you," someone else added. "It was such a modest and simple ask. Sending you so much love and strength."
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